Author: michael

TL;DR the reservation system is absolutely unreliable, and without the Uber Pass, is just not worth it.

I’ve been using JUMP bikes and scooters with the Uber Pass for a few months now, and the free 30 minutes a day absolutely made it worth it for me. There were a couple of issues though. Frequently I would encounter bikes with non-working e-assists. Even more annoying though, I would go up to bikes and scooters (I would check that they were available on the app), try to reserve them, and get hit with mysterious errors that they weren’t reservable. The issues seemed to have gone away over time. Continue reading →

Using China’s cashless alternatives like Alipay and WeChat has always been a hassle or impossible for foreigners without Chinese residency or a bank card to use. Given that China is moving to an increasingly cashless society, but without widespread acceptance of foreign credit cards, being unable to use either of these methods made being a tourist fairly inconvenient. You could still pay a normal taxi with cash, or pay small amounts with cash if the merchant took it, or go to higher end places that could take card, but plenty of merchants wouldn’t accept anything other than mobile pay or wouldn’t have the proper change. Continue reading →

I wrote before about riding JUMP bikes for free, up to 30 minutes a day with the Uber ride pass. JUMP scooters have recently been added to the network, and it seems like they are also included in the free 30 minutes a day with a ride pass. The 30 minutes comes out of the same pool as the bikes. So far, there seems to be no reservation fee on the scooters, just a $0.33 per minute charge (beyond 30 minutes that is), which is similar to how the JUMP bikes were priced for me initially. Continue reading →

After Robinhood took the consumer market by storm in 2013 by offering completely free trades, analysts predicted it would only be a matter of time until the major brokers followed suit. I personally keep a small portion of my assets in Robinhood, though they haven’t been exactly without controversy. Robinhood has been accused of possibly not providing the best order speeds and pricing, as they take revenue from sending their order flow through 3rd party market makers. There was also the botched launch of Robinhood Cash. For what it’s worth, here’s my Robinhood referral 🤣. Continue reading →

I wrote earlier about how the Uber ride pass gave access to 30 minutes of free JUMP bikes a day. I’ve been pretty happy with it so far, except for when a bike is too far or gets snatched from me before I’m able to reserve it. I was surprised recently when I started seeing a $3 fee to reserve a bike! That’s not free anymore, even if the first 3 minutes are free.

I decided to hop on one the other day to see what would happen. I finished my ride and waited for the receipt. Continue reading →

Online grocery delivery has been around for a while, but Asian groceries have been an underserved market. I was always willing to make the trek out to the local store for fresh ingredients as well as for the dirt cheap prices.

I recently discovered Weee! which does delivery from local Asian grocers, with free shipping above $35. Availability seems to be in most US states. Doing some inventory browsing, they seem to have most of the items I want, even fresh ones, for near Asian grocery store prices. Green onions for $0.29! Uni!! And more! A couple items were missing, but overall I’m pretty happy with the selection and price. I asked a couple of friends to check the selection, and it seems to vary based on location (someone in Indianapolis said there were very few fresh items there). Continue reading →

I’ve always been a big fan of Google Fi for the convenience, speed, and simple pricing, but always thought it was a bit costly for my needs. However, Google has just put out a new plan that fits my needs perfectly.

It’s a family plan, with 1 person being $70/month, 2 $60/person/month, 3 $50/person/month, and 4+ being $45/person/month. You get unlimited high speed data up to 22/GB per person and throttled speeds after. Furthermore, you get bundled Google One membership for everyone. Continue reading →

I accidentally stumbled across a great deal for people with JUMP bikes / scooters in their city. I had purchased an Uber ride pass for $24.99 a month for other reasons. I live in San Francisco, where JUMP bikes (but not scooters) are plentiful. I’ve been playing with JUMP bikes recently, and after I got the ride pass, noticed that the app was now saying I got 30 minutes a day of rental minutes free! I ride around 6 times a week for an average of 8 minutes each. At a cost of $0.15 per minute, that ends up around $28 of JUMP costs. Plus, I get all the normal Uber ride pass discounts too, so it’s a great deal! Continue reading →